Your Life as Every Rank in the Ancient Greek Navy (POV History)

What was life actually like at every rank of the ancient Greek navy? You start on the lowest bench of an Athenian warship, in the dark, for one drachma a day, and climb all ten ranks to the very top. This animated POV history follows the Athenian navy through the Peloponnesian War, from 429 to 404 BC. As you rise from bottom-bench rower to admiral, everything changes: your pay, your job, how many lives depend on you, and what Athens does to you when things go wrong. And the higher you climb, the more Athens loses. You row blind through the Battle of Naupactus, race through the night to stop a massacre at Mytilene, and watch Spartans surrender at Pylos. You sail with the great fleet to Sicily and end up in the stone quarries of Syracuse. Then the navy declares itself the real Athens on the beach at Samos, springs Alcibiades' trap at Cyzicus, loses a fleet at Notium, wins at Arginusae and executes its own winning generals. Finally, at Aegospotami, Lysander takes the fleet of Athens on a beach, and the Long Walls come down to flute music. Ancient Greek trireme rowers were mostly free, paid men, not chained slaves. This is how the Athenian navy really worked, from the oar to the top. CHAPTERS 00:00 Level 1: Bottom Bench Rower (Naupactus, 429 BC) 02:25 Level 2: Middle Bench Rower (the race to Mytilene) 04:13 Level 3: Top Bench Rower (Pylos and Sphacteria) 06:08 Level 4: Marine (the Sicilian Expedition) 08:26 Level 5: Bow Officer (the fleet at Samos) 09:57 Level 6: Rowing Master (the Battle of Cyzicus) 11:37 Level 7: Helmsman (the Battle of Notium) 13:03 Level 8: Trireme Captain (the Battle of Arginusae) 14:43 Level 9: General (the trial of the generals) 16:12 Level 10: Admiral (Aegospotami and the fall of Athens) Which seat would you have taken? A) The bottom bench: a drachma a day and someone else's sweat. B) Captain: you pay for the whole ship. C) General: and pray you never win. Tell me in the comments. Subscribe to Tiny Greeks for more weird questions about the ancient Greeks. HISTORICAL NOTES & SOURCES This video uses fictional POV characters (Lykon, Dion, Ariston, Philon and Theron) to show real ranks, pay and events. Every battle, number and named real person is from the ancient accounts. The story of prisoners freed for reciting Euripides is told by Plutarch centuries later and may be legend. Pay before 415 BC rests on one passage some scholars doubt. One captain's cost of "six talents in seven years" comes from a real courtroom speech. • Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.83–93, 3.17, 3.36–50, 4.26–41, 6.31–32, 6.43, 7.13–14, 7.70–87, 8.45, 8.75–76 • Xenophon, Hellenica 1.1, 1.5–7, 2.1–2 (Cyzicus, Cyrus's extra obol, Notium, Arginusae and the trial, Aegospotami, the Paralus, the walls) • Lysias 21, Defence Against a Charge of Taking Bribes (the trierarch's costs, the helmsman Phantias) • Plutarch, Life of Nicias 29–30 • Aristophanes, Frogs (the rowers' joke and chant) • Diodorus Siculus 13.50–53, 13.98–101 • Further reading: J. S. Morrison, J. F. Coates and N. B. Rankov, The Athenian Trireme; Vincent Gabrielsen, Financing the Athenian Fleet; Donald Kagan, The Peloponnesian War #AncientGreece #POVHistory #TinyGreeks